On the Road with Betsy Woolf – Georgia Institute of Technology

There’s a new campus recreation center at Georgia Tech, replacing the one I saw years ago. Georgia Tech was the site of the swimming and diving events for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Since then, a new rec center has been built around those three pools. Once again, I sat in the stands and watched athletes practice. That weekend was the Southeast Regional Swimming Championships, and I would have liked to have stayed to watch the meet (I was there in between prelims and finals), but a wedding rehearsal dinner was already on my calendar in Atlanta. 

The photo accompanying this article is of those three pools. If you haven’t figured it out yet, then I should tell you that I follow swimming and have sat in the stands at two US Senior Nationals swim meets in Irvine, California, and one Australian national meet outside the city of Adelaide watching people like Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky swim. My husband and I were in the stands in California when Katie set her first world record in the 1500 meter swim.

Anyway, back to Georgia Tech, as the Georgia Institute of Technology is popularly known. It’s a state university whose schools include a College of Business, a College of Computing, a College of Design, a College of Technology, a College of Sciences and a College of Liberal Arts. The school physically remains a mix of old architecture – red brick – and sparkling new buildings, all in the heart of Atlanta. Its business program is located a brief walk over a highway bridge to Atlanta Technology Square, which is the center of technology businesses in Atlanta.

Around 60% of  the 16,049 undergrad students are from Georgia. There’s a new major in music technology in the College of Design, in which students learn how to build the equipment and software used in the music industry. The school features a co-op program, although it isn’t mandatory. Popular destinations have been Home Depot and Georgia Pacific, which has an innovation center, UPS, State and local governments, the CDC,  the American Cancer Society, and NASA. 

In fact, Georgia Tech is the largest producer of aerospace engineers in the U.S. Beyond aerospace, engineering disciplines include biomedical, chemical, civil, environmental, computer, electrical, industrial, materials science, mechanical, nuclear and radiological and polymer, textile & fiber. The largest freshman major is undecided engineering. There are study abroad opportunities with the school’s engineering professors. 

This year, the university received over 40,000 applications. One priority is institutional fit. Through the motto of Progress and Service, I’m sure you can see what Georgia Tech values. The instate early action admit rate for the Class of 2024 was 40% Georgia, and 15% out of state; for regular decision, 38% Georgia and 16% out of state.